Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Reverend Lizard Eater and Little Wren say Goodbye

It was just supposed to be a little blog where I could vent about being a Unitarian Universalist student in an evangelical seminary.

And along the way ...

Well, along the way, my baby daughter got cancer. Twice. And my journey through seminary to ministry took 8 years. And I wept bitter tears over my keyboard. Many of you cried with me. And prayed for us. And taught me as much about community, and love, and God, as anything else in my life.

Before any of that, newly in seminary, I looked around at some of the other great pseudonyms in the UU blogging world -- Philocrites, Errant Frogs, Peacebang, Fausto -- and chose "Lizard Eater," to reflect my status in theological puberty.

My friend and soul brother, the Hysteric Cleric, gifted me with an soul-satisfying slam poem on the occasion of my ordination. He ended it by noting that I was a Lizard Eater no longer.

I chafed a bit at that. And yet, he is right. While I will always be a student, I am a student who has graduated and is taking her place out in the world among the ranks of other ordained Unitarian Universalist ministers.

Little Wren has graduated, too.

Today, we met with her oncologist. She got another report of "NED" - No Evidence of Disease. Everything looks good - kidneys, lungs, developmentally appropriate and then some.

So now, she has been referred to "Long Term Survivor" care. She'll meet with those doctors once a year, they'll keep tabs on her for the rest of her life - keeping us informed of any possible future complications from the chemo or radiation she received. You never get the "You're cured!" announcement, but this is a good milestone. Better that that. Great.

So, Lizard Eater and Little Wren bid you farewell. Thank you for reading, for commenting, for arguing, for praying, for laughing. May you experience the same grand feelings of love that I have felt here.

9 comments:

hysteric cleric
said...

Thanks be to God for Little Wren's health, for Dr. M. and all those who helped in her healing, including you, The Husband, The Boy, The Princess, and Bo Peep.

And blessings on your ministry, The Reverend Formerly-Known-as-Lizard-Eater. This blog helped us make our initial connection, and even though I was the one who said your Lizard Eater days are now done...I will always be grateful for the Lizard Eater's blog for helping me find my prayer partner, soul sister, and best friend.

Farewell, Lizard Eater! I have still been following your blog all of these years, since we first connected somehow. Our babies were the exact same age (about a week apart, if I remember right), only your baby had cancer and I was trying to raise my baby after finding out that I had cancer. Somehow, we all made it through. I wish you well, and I hope you'll still stop by my blog from time to time. Love, Cancer Girl